Clothing Vocabulary in French: Gender Differences

In French, many words for clothing change depending on whether they're masculine or feminine. This is important for making sure your sentences are correct. Knowing this will help you talk about what someone is wearing or what you want to wear. Let’s look at some clothing words that change with gender.

Understanding Gender

In French, every noun is either masculine or feminine. Here’s a list of common clothing items with their gender:

Masculine Clothing Words

• Le pantalon (the pants)
• Le t-shirt (the t-shirt)
• Le costume (the suit)
• Le pull (the sweater)

Feminine Clothing Words

• La robe (the dress)
• La jupe (the skirt)
• La chemise (the shirt)
• La blouse (the blouse)

Color Matching

When you describe clothing with colors, the color words must match the gender of the clothing.

Masculine Colors

• Rouge (red)
• Bleu (blue)
• Vert (green)

Examples:

• Le pantalon bleu (the blue pants)
• Le pull rouge (the red sweater)

Feminine Colors

• Rouge (red) - stays the same
• Bleue (blue) - add an "e"
• Verte (green) - add an "e"

Examples:

• La robe rouge (the red dress)
• La jupe bleue (the blue skirt)

Sample Sentences

Now that you know some clothing words and how to match them with colors, here are some sentences to practice:

1. “Aujourd'hui, je porte un t-shirt bleu.” (Today, I am wearing a blue t-shirt.)
2. “Elle porte une robe rouge.” (She is wearing a red dress.)
3. “Mon frère a un pull vert.” (My brother has a green sweater.)
4. “Ma sœur a une jupe bleue.” (My sister has a blue skirt.)

Summary

To understand French clothing vocabulary, you need to know if a word is masculine or feminine and how to match color words to these genders. Always remember to change the adjectives to fit the nouns!

By practicing this vocabulary and making sentences, you will be able to talk about outfits easily. Happy learning!